But that's not why you're here. You want to hear the wisdom I'm about to share about storing those tasty preserves you made. I know it seems odd to be sharing this now when you made them months ago, but trust me, it's important.
I have a disturbing photo to share. Brace yourselves. It's a shocker.
I know. So traumatic, isn't it? I was minding my own business on Sunday. Trying to watch some football. When all of a sudden....CRASH! Actually, it didn't sound like breaking glass. It was just a loud sound. I thought it was odd, but didn't get off the couch. When I went to check the laundry, this lay right in my path. What you can't see in this picture is that there's a second jar further back. Good thing I didn't really like this orange marmalade. And I probably shouldn't have been eating the chocolate peach dessert sauce that fell either.
The point here? You need to be aware of where you store your preserves and how they are situated. This is very important to keep track of now that we're using them, so jars are being shuffled around to get to other ones.
I'm not exactly sure HOW these jars fell, but I did put the three jars of sauerkraut I just canned on the shelf, and kind of crammed them in, moving jars in the process. I didn't bother to make sure that the jars on the edge of the shelf were still securely in place. They must have gotten pushed too close to the edge, then perhaps the vibrations from the washer or dry was enough to send the bottom one over, taking the top jar with it.
Make sure you are constantly checking the jars on the edges of shelves. Or you too will be out 2 jars. And a rubber seal from my new Tattler reusable canning lids. (Which I won from Simple Bites. Great site, go check it out!)
Has this unfortunate event happened to anyone else?
Not yet, but we're just starting our canning adventures. I'm sure it will happen at some point!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the Tattler lids? We're considering investing in a significant set of them relatively soon and have been doing some research.
I love following your blog! Thanks for sharing. =)
Not this past fall but the year before I lost an entire shelf of stuff I had spent weeks canning. It was my stupidity- I had just finished another batch of something and decided to stack the jars on one shelf that is only screwed into the walls (old house lathe and plaster) with plastic drywall anchors. I wasn't even planning on leaving them there, I just stuck them up for a photo op and left the room to grab my camera. I heard a loud crash and came running back in time to see the shelf give way completely and everything hit the floor and shattered.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many jars were actually on it- more than 20 and most of those were quarts of pickles. Also salsa, tomato sauce, my beautiful poached pears in elderberry syrup, jam ... I swear my heart broke and I was pretty much hysterical. All the pickles and sauces intermingled and splashed up the walls and ran under the cupboards; glass was everywhere and I couldn't even clean it up. The Russian came home from work and dealt with it because i burst into tears every time I looked at the waste of all that work
I still get kinda sad now when I think of it. And all my jars are stored in cupboards now.
I haven't had that happen (knock on wood) but I did have 2 jars explode sort of. I had packed the peppers too tight and it blew the seal. Who knows how long, however it came to my attention via a very putrid smell in the pantry. Not pretty!
ReplyDeleteSorry you lost your marmalade :( bummer
That IS traumatic!
ReplyDeleteEmma: I've only used the tattler lids on 2 small canning projects, but so far they've been great. No problems with sealing and they are just as easy as regular lids.
ReplyDeleteCallieK: That's terrible! I would probably be hysterical too if something like that happened to me!
APG: I'll have to keep that in mind when packing in veggies. Don't pack too tight!
Erin: I KNOW!